Baptism and Temptations of Christ

This painting, once part of a large decorative cycle, depicts two rarely associated episodes from the Gospels, linking them visually with a series of diagonal lines stretching from the angel upper left and guiding the observer’s eye towards the right-hand side of the composition, where Devil seeks to  tempt Christ in the wilderness. The painter’s true protagonist is the landscape in the centre, with its magnificent light effects achieved with rapid brushstrokes fading towards Jerusalem in the distance.

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“Preparation and test. The one fleshy and apocalyptic, the other gloomily psychological. The Baptist splashes Jesus in the river and the heavens open, spilling brightly-dressed angels and a tubby cherub with silken parachute. All eyes on Christ and His on the dazzling Dove. Fast-forward forty days in the wilderness and, to the right, the Devil tempts Christ with Worldly Power. But his pink and blue robes are still picking up just enough light from that Baptism to say, Get thee hence, Satan! ”
Tim Parks